[Script Info]
Title: 
[Events]
Format: Layer, Start, End, Style, Name, MarginL, MarginR, MarginV, Effect, Text
Dialogue: 0,0:00:11.53,0:00:23.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,After 6 million years of boredom,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:23.06,0:00:27.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the evolutionary ascent of our species
Dialogue: 0,0:00:27.70,0:00:30.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from the last common ancestor with the chimpanzee,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:30.77,0:00:34.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,something extraordinary happened to us less than 100.000 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:34.50,0:00:38.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which by the way, is long after we've become anatomically modern.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:38.89,0:00:42.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It was a kind of emergence into consciousness
Dialogue: 0,0:00:42.63,0:00:46.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,less than 100.000 years ago, really less than 40.000 years ago,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:46.83,0:00:49.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,when we became fully symbolic creatures.
Dialogue: 0,0:00:50.53,0:00:53.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this great change has been defined as
Dialogue: 0,0:00:53.70,0:00:56.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the single most important step forward in the evolution of human behavior,
Dialogue: 0,0:00:57.14,0:01:01.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is intimately associated with the emergence of the great and transcendant
Dialogue: 0,0:01:01.18,0:01:05.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,rock and cave art all around the world.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:05.85,0:01:10.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And over the last 30 years researchers led by prof. David Louis Williams,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:10.66,0:01:14.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,at the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa, and many others,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:14.74,0:01:18.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,have suggested an intriguing and radical possibility
Dialogue: 0,0:01:18.62,0:01:22.73,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is that this emergence into consciousness was triggered by
Dialogue: 0,0:01:22.85,0:01:26.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,our ancestors encounters with visionary plants
Dialogue: 0,0:01:26.68,0:01:29.07,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the beginning of Shamanism.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:29.96,0:01:33.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,If you analyze the cave art - there's no time to go into the details here, but there are
Dialogue: 0,0:01:33.91,0:01:38.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so many details that make it clear that this was an art of altered states of consciousness,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:38.49,0:01:40.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of visions
Dialogue: 0,0:01:40.22,0:01:47.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that plants like the Amanita muscaria mushroom, or Psilocybin mushrooms,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:47.98,0:01:54.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,appear to have been directly connected with this sudden and radical change.
Dialogue: 0,0:01:54.58,0:01:58.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So to investigate this possibility when I got interested in this mistery,
Dialogue: 0,0:01:58.94,0:02:04.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I went down to the Amazon, where there are still surviving shamanistic cultures today,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:05.41,0:02:09.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and where they drink the powerful visionary brew Ayahuasca,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:09.74,0:02:13.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of which the active ingredient is Dimethyltryptamine, DMT,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:13.65,0:02:18.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is actually closelly related at the molecular level to Psilocybin.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:18.44,0:02:25.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now normally DMT cannot be activated orally when we encountered it in the West,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:25.51,0:02:27.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where it is generally smoked.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:27.53,0:02:31.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's an enzyme in our stomachs called monoaminoxidaze
Dialogue: 0,0:02:31.48,0:02:35.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which switches off DMT on contact.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:36.00,0:02:38.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But in the Amazon they've got round this problem.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:38.91,0:02:42.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And they say it was the spirits that taught them how to do it.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:42.57,0:02:45.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The DMT in the Ayahuasca brew is contained in these leaves
Dialogue: 0,0:02:45.75,0:02:49.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,from a plant that they call Chacruna in the Amazon.
Dialogue: 0,0:02:49.14,0:02:52.55,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And there they mix it together with this vine,
Dialogue: 0,0:02:52.55,0:02:56.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and out of the 150.000 different species of plants and trees in the Amazon
Dialogue: 0,0:02:56.46,0:03:00.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,this is the one that contains a monoaminoxidaze inhibitor,
Dialogue: 0,0:03:00.74,0:03:04.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which switches off that enzyme in our stomachs
Dialogue: 0,0:03:04.74,0:03:08.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and allows the DMT in the leaves when the two are maried together and cooked in water
Dialogue: 0,0:03:08.90,0:03:14.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to be absorbed orally, and takes us on a 4 hour journey
Dialogue: 0,0:03:14.47,0:03:17.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,into extraordinary realms.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:17.26,0:03:21.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it's no joke to drink Ayahuasca.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:21.72,0:03:26.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The Ayahuasca brew has a foul taste.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:26.87,0:03:29.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Really, really hideous and a dreadful, dreadful smell.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:30.69,0:03:34.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And after you've drunk your cup, you'll find within 45 minutes or so
Dialogue: 0,0:03:34.62,0:03:37.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that your sweating, that you're feeling nauseous.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:37.62,0:03:40.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Pretty soon you may well be vomiting, you may well having diarrhea.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:40.42,0:03:44.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So, nobody is doing this for recreation.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:45.25,0:03:50.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I'd like to add that I don't think any of the psychedelics should be used for recreation.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:50.50,0:03:56.17,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have much more serious and important mission with humanity.
Dialogue: 0,0:03:56.45,0:04:00.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,So we're not doing this for fun. But what draws people to Ayahuasca again and again
Dialogue: 0,0:04:00.58,0:04:03.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to brace themselves for this experience - and you do have to brace yourself -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:03.87,0:04:07.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is its extraordinary effects at the level of consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:07.26,0:04:10.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And one of those effects has to do with creativity.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:10.42,0:04:14.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we can see the creative cosmogenic impulse of Ayahuasca in the paintings
Dialogue: 0,0:04:14.78,0:04:19.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,of Ayahuasca Shamans from Peru, like the paintings of Pablo Amaringo here -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:19.34,0:04:24.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,those richly saturated colors, the amazing visions that they reproduce -
Dialogue: 0,0:04:24.35,0:04:29.87,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this creative impulse has also spread to western artists.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:29.87,0:04:33.67,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Many western artists now have been deeply influenced by Ayahuasca
Dialogue: 0,0:04:33.75,0:04:36.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and are also painting their visions.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:36.46,0:04:40.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And as these paintings show, another universal experience of Ayahuasca
Dialogue: 0,0:04:40.78,0:04:47.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is the encounter with seemingly intelligent entities which communicate with us telepathically,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:47.26,0:04:51.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I am making no claim one way or another as to the reality status of these entities we encounter.
Dialogue: 0,0:04:51.90,0:04:56.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Simply that phenomenologically, in the Ayahuasca experience they are encountered
Dialogue: 0,0:04:56.50,0:04:59.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by people all over the world, and most frequently of all,
Dialogue: 0,0:04:59.35,0:05:06.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the spirit of Ayahuasca herself - Mother Ayahuasca - who is a healer
Dialogue: 0,0:05:06.92,0:05:10.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and although she is kind of the mother goddess of the planet
Dialogue: 0,0:05:10.58,0:05:15.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,she seems to take a direct personal interest in us as individuals,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:15.02,0:05:19.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to heal our ills, to want us to be the best that we can possibly be,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:19.70,0:05:25.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to correct errors and mistakes in our behavior that may be leading us down the wrong path.
Dialogue: 0,0:05:25.47,0:05:30.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is perhaps why, and it's an untold story, really -
Dialogue: 0,0:05:30.38,0:05:37.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ayahuasca has been fantastically successful in getting people off harmful addictions to hard drugs
Dialogue: 0,0:05:37.30,0:05:43.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,such as heroine and cocaine. Jacques Mabit at the Takiwasi clinic in Peru,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:43.10,0:05:46.09,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,brings heroine and cocaine addicts out there for a month,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:46.09,0:05:50.04,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,gives them 12 Ayahuasca sessions and they have encounters with Mother Ayahuasca
Dialogue: 0,0:05:50.04,0:05:55.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,during those sessions that lead them not to wish to take heroine and cocaine any more,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:55.22,0:05:58.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and more than half leave completely free of their addiction,
Dialogue: 0,0:05:58.06,0:06:01.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,never return to it and don't even have withdrawal symptoms.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:01.34,0:06:05.59,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The same incredible healing work has been done in Canada by doctor Gabor Mate
Dialogue: 0,0:06:05.59,0:06:09.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,until the Canadian Government interviened and stopped his healing practice
Dialogue: 0,0:06:09.82,0:06:14.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on the grounds that Ayahuasca itself was an illegal drug.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:15.12,0:06:20.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now I have some personal experience of this. I have not been addicted to heroine or cocaine,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:20.58,0:06:24.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I had a 24 years non-stop cannabis habit.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:24.15,0:06:30.65,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,This started off smoking the herb and laterally vaporizing it,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:30.65,0:06:36.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but the basic truth is that for 24 years I was pretty much permanently stoned.
Dialogue: 0,0:06:36.54,0:06:44.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I enjoyed it, being stoned and I felt that it helped me with my work as a writter and
Dialogue: 0,0:06:44.94,0:06:48.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,perhaps at some point it did, but when I first encountered Ayahuasca
Dialogue: 0,0:06:48.70,0:06:52.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I had already been smoking cannabis for 16 years and almost immediatelly
Dialogue: 0,0:06:52.30,0:06:57.57,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Ayahuasca started giving me messages that this was no longer serving me,
Dialogue: 0,0:06:57.57,0:07:02.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it was leading me to behave in negative and unhelpful ways towards others,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:02.38,0:07:05.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and of course I ignored those messages for years and years
Dialogue: 0,0:07:05.66,0:07:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and went back to being stoned 16 hours a day.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:09.42,0:07:15.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But that negative behavior that Ayahuasca was pointing out did actually get worse and worse.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:15.83,0:07:19.40,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I don't want to put down cannabis and I believe it's the sovereign right of every adult
Dialogue: 0,0:07:19.40,0:07:21.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to choose to smoke cannabis if they wish to do so,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:21.98,0:07:26.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I think I was overusing it, I think I was abusing it, not using it responsibly.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:26.46,0:07:31.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I became more and more paranoid, jealous, possessive, suspicious,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:31.58,0:07:36.50,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was subject to irrational rages, I often made the life of my beloved partner, Santha,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:36.50,0:07:41.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a misery, and when I went down for my regular encounter with Ayahuasca,
Dialogue: 0,0:07:41.58,0:07:48.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in October 2011, I was given the most unbelievable kicking by Mother Ayahuasca.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:48.52,0:07:54.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was put through an ordeal. It was a kind of life review
Dialogue: 0,0:07:54.66,0:07:59.60,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's not an accident that Ayahuasca is the vine of the dead.
Dialogue: 0,0:07:59.60,0:08:04.56,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I was shown my death, and I was shown that if I came to death
Dialogue: 0,0:08:04.56,0:08:09.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and what awaits us after death without having corrected the mistakes that I was making
Dialogue: 0,0:08:09.42,0:08:14.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in my life, that it would be a very bad thing for me, and actually
Dialogue: 0,0:08:14.06,0:08:17.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Mother Ayahuasca literally took me to hell.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:17.70,0:08:22.95,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that hell was a little like this "Hell" painted by Hieronymus Bosch.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:22.95,0:08:26.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,A truly horrible place. And a little like the place that
Dialogue: 0,0:08:26.82,0:08:30.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ancient Egyptians called the Judgement Hall of Osiris,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:30.06,0:08:33.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,where our souls are weighed in the scale in the presence of the Gods
Dialogue: 0,0:08:33.89,0:08:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,against the feather of truth, of justice, of cosmic harmony.
Dialogue: 0,0:08:38.22,0:08:41.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I was shown that the path I was walking,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:41.18,0:08:45.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,my abuse of Cannabis and the behavior associated with it
Dialogue: 0,0:08:45.74,0:08:49.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was going to lead me to be found "wanting" in the judgement
Dialogue: 0,0:08:49.76,0:08:54.03,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that I might face annihilation in the world beyond death,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:54.03,0:08:58.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so perhaps not surprising, but when I came back to England,
Dialogue: 0,0:08:58.14,0:09:01.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,later in October 2011, I gave up Cannabis
Dialogue: 0,0:09:01.83,0:09:05.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I've never smoked it again since then.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:05.10,0:09:08.47,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And actually and again I'm speaking only personally with no comment on
Dialogue: 0,0:09:08.47,0:09:13.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,other uses of Cannabis. It's as though a monkey has been lifted off my back.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:13.06,0:09:17.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I'm liberated in incredible ways. Far from my creativity being inhibited,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:17.62,0:09:21.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I find myself writing much more productively, much more creatively,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:21.38,0:09:26.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,much more focused and much more efficiently as well,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:26.30,0:09:29.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and I began to be able to address those negative aspects of my behavior
Dialogue: 0,0:09:29.54,0:09:32.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which Cannabis had revealed and hopefully to make myself slowly -
Dialogue: 0,0:09:32.82,0:09:37.45,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,it's a long progress - into a more nurturing, more loving, more positive person
Dialogue: 0,0:09:37.45,0:09:42.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and this whole transformation - it really has been a personal transformation for me -
Dialogue: 0,0:09:42.62,0:09:47.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,was made possible by this encounter with Death that Mother Ayahuasca gave me.
Dialogue: 0,0:09:47.46,0:09:50.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And you know, that leads me to ask what is Death?
Dialogue: 0,0:09:50.74,0:09:54.12,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Our materialist science reduces everything to matter,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:54.12,0:09:57.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and materialist science in the West says we are just meat, we are just our bodies,
Dialogue: 0,0:09:57.75,0:10:00.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so when the brain is dead that's the end of consciousness,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:00.90,0:10:02.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,there is no life after death, there is no soul,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:02.82,0:10:05.83,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we just rot and are gone.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:06.03,0:10:09.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But actually many honest scientists should admit
Dialogue: 0,0:10:09.98,0:10:12.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that consciousness is the greatest mystery of science
Dialogue: 0,0:10:13.04,0:10:15.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that we don't know exactly how it works.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:15.54,0:10:17.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The brain is involved in it in some way,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:17.34,0:10:21.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we're not sure how. Could be that the brain generates consciousness
Dialogue: 0,0:10:21.52,0:10:24.89,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the way a generator makes electricity, if you hold to that paradigm,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:24.98,0:10:27.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then of course you can't believe in life after death.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:27.02,0:10:29.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When the generator is broken consciousness is gone,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:29.18,0:10:30.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but it's equally possible that the relationship -
Dialogue: 0,0:10:30.90,0:10:32.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and nothing in neuro-science rules it out -
Dialogue: 0,0:10:32.93,0:10:36.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the relationship is more like a relationship of the TV signal to the TV set.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:36.96,0:10:41.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in that case, when the TV set is broken, of course the TV signal continues.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:41.79,0:10:45.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is the paradigm of all spiritual traditions,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:45.69,0:10:50.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that we are immortal souls, temporarily incarnated in these physical forms,
Dialogue: 0,0:10:50.18,0:10:53.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to learn and to grow and to develop.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:53.62,0:10:56.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And really if we want to know about this mystery
Dialogue: 0,0:10:56.18,0:10:59.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the last people we should ask are materialist - reductionist scientists.
Dialogue: 0,0:10:59.18,0:11:01.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They have nothing to say on the matter at all.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:01.26,0:11:04.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Let's go rather to the ancient Egyptians who put their best minds to work
Dialogue: 0,0:11:04.82,0:11:06.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for 3000 years on the problem of death,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:06.74,0:11:10.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and on the problem of how we should live our lives to prepare
Dialogue: 0,0:11:10.46,0:11:12.69,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for what we will confront after death.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:12.69,0:11:18.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And the ancient Egyptians expressed their ideas in transcendent art
Dialogue: 0,0:11:18.02,0:11:20.53,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which still touches us emotionally today
Dialogue: 0,0:11:20.53,0:11:23.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and they came to certain very specific conclusions,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:23.15,0:11:26.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the soul does survive death, and that we will be held accountable for
Dialogue: 0,0:11:26.98,0:11:32.20,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,every thought, every action, every deed that we have lived through in our lives,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:32.20,0:11:35.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we better take this precious opportunity - to be born in a human body -
Dialogue: 0,0:11:35.86,0:11:38.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,seriously and make the most of it.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:38.51,0:11:41.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And in these inquiries into the mystery of death
Dialogue: 0,0:11:41.14,0:11:44.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the ancient Egyptians weren't just exercising their imagination.
Dialogue: 0,0:11:44.11,0:11:49.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,They highly valued dream states, and it's now known that they used visionary plants -
Dialogue: 0,0:11:49.94,0:11:53.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,like the hallucinogenic blue Water lily,
Dialogue: 0,0:11:53.62,0:11:56.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and it's interesting that the ancient Egyptian tree of life
Dialogue: 0,0:11:56.82,0:12:00.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,has recently been identified as the Acacia nilotica,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:00.38,0:12:05.42,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which contains high quantities of DMT - Dimethyltryptamine
Dialogue: 0,0:12:05.42,0:12:09.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the same active ingredient that we find in Ayahuasca.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:09.02,0:12:12.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Now it's difficult to imagine a society more different from
Dialogue: 0,0:12:12.58,0:12:15.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the society of ancient Egypt than our society today.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:15.22,0:12:17.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We hate visionary states in this society.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:17.46,0:12:21.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In our society, if we want to insult somebody, we call them a dreamer.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:21.74,0:12:23.71,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,In ancient societies that was praise.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:23.71,0:12:28.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we have erected huge apparatuses of armed burocracies
Dialogue: 0,0:12:28.14,0:12:30.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who will invade our privacy, who will break down our doors,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:30.90,0:12:34.26,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,who will arrest us, who will send us to prison, sometimes for years,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:34.26,0:12:39.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,for possessing even small quantities of Psilocybin or substances like DMT,
Dialogue: 0,0:12:39.22,0:12:42.92,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,whether in its smokable form or in the Ayahuasca brew
Dialogue: 0,0:12:42.92,0:12:46.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and yet ironically DMT is - we now know - a natural brain hormone.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:46.66,0:12:49.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We all have it in our bodies and it's just that its function
Dialogue: 0,0:12:49.78,0:12:52.35,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,remains unknown for lack of research.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:52.35,0:12:56.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's not as though our society is opposed in principle to altered states of consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:12:56.58,0:13:04.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,I mean billions are being made by the unholy alliance of psychiatrists and big pharma
Dialogue: 0,0:13:04.11,0:13:09.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in over prescribing drugs to control so called syndromes like depression,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:09.86,0:13:13.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,or attention deficit disorder in teenagers.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:13.70,0:13:18.36,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we have a love affair in our society with alcohol.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:18.36,0:13:24.91,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We glorify this most boring of drugs at the spite that there are terrible consequences
Dialogue: 0,0:13:24.91,0:13:26.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that it often has.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:26.58,0:13:30.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And of course we love our stimulants: our tea, our coffee, our energy drinks, our sugar,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:30.70,0:13:35.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and huge industries are built around these substances,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:35.77,0:13:38.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which are valued because of the way they alter consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:38.86,0:13:42.79,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But what all these approved altered states of consciousness have in common
Dialogue: 0,0:13:42.79,0:13:47.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is that none of them contradict or conflict with the basic state of consciousness valued by our society,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:47.77,0:13:50.44,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which I would call "the alert problem solving state of consciousness",
Dialogue: 0,0:13:50.44,0:13:53.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,which is good for the more mundane aspects of science.
Dialogue: 0,0:13:53.82,0:13:57.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's good for the prosecution of warfare, it's good for commerce, it's good for politics,
Dialogue: 0,0:13:57.86,0:14:03.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but I think everybody realizes that the promise of a society over monopolistically based
Dialogue: 0,0:14:03.82,0:14:06.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,upon of this state of consciousness has proved hollow.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:06.98,0:14:10.76,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And that this model is no longer working.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:10.88,0:14:14.32,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That it's broken in every possible sense that a model can be broken.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:14.37,0:14:18.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And urgently we need to find something to replace it:
Dialogue: 0,0:14:18.34,0:14:25.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the vast problems of global pollution that have resulted from the single minded pursuit of profit,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:25.06,0:14:29.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the horrors of a nuclear proliferation,
Dialogue: 0,0:14:29.57,0:14:32.43,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the specter of hunger
Dialogue: 0,0:14:32.43,0:14:34.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that millions every night go to bed starving.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:34.98,0:14:37.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And we can't even solve this problem
Dialogue: 0,0:14:37.28,0:14:40.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,despite our alert problem solving state of consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:40.14,0:14:45.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And look what's happening in the Amazon - the lungs of our planet, this precious home of biodiversity -
Dialogue: 0,0:14:45.90,0:14:51.25,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,the old growth rainforest being cut down and replaced with soya bean farms
Dialogue: 0,0:14:51.25,0:14:54.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,so we can feed cattles so that we can all eat hamburgers.
Dialogue: 0,0:14:54.74,0:15:01.93,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Only a truly insane global state of consciousness could allow such an abomination to occur.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:01.93,0:15:06.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I did a back of an envelope calculation during the Irak war.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:06.62,0:15:10.18,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It seems to me that 6 months expenditure on the Irak war
Dialogue: 0,0:15:10.18,0:15:13.02,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,would have solved the problem of the Amazon forever.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:13.02,0:15:16.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Would be sufficient to compensate the peoples of the Amazon so that
Dialogue: 0,0:15:16.27,0:15:19.49,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,no single tree ever needed to be cut down again,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:19.52,0:15:22.01,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to garden and look after that amazing resource.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:22.01,0:15:25.96,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,But we can't make that decision as a global community.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:25.96,0:15:28.72,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We can spend countless billions on warfare,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:28.72,0:15:31.51,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,on hatred, on fear, on suspicion, on division,
Dialogue: 0,0:15:31.51,0:15:36.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,but we can't get together the collective effort to save the lungs of our planet.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:36.78,0:15:38.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And this is perhaps why
Dialogue: 0,0:15:38.82,0:15:43.66,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Shamans from the Amazon are now mounting a kind of reverse missionary activity.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:43.66,0:15:47.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,When I've asked Shamans about the sickness of the West they say it's quite simple:
Dialogue: 0,0:15:47.94,0:15:51.78,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,"You guys have severed your connection with spirit.
Dialogue: 0,0:15:51.78,0:15:58.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Unless you reconnect with spirit and do so soon, you're going to bring the whole house of cards
Dialogue: 0,0:15:58.22,0:16:00.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,down around your heads and ours."
Dialogue: 0,0:16:00.70,0:16:05.54,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And rightly or wrongly they believe that Ayahuasca is the remedy for that sickness.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:05.54,0:16:08.98,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And many now are being called to the Amazon to drink Ayahuasca
Dialogue: 0,0:16:08.98,0:16:11.46,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and Ayahuasca Shamans are traveling throughout the West,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:11.46,0:16:14.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,offering the brew, often under the radar, often at personal risk
Dialogue: 0,0:16:14.90,0:16:17.62,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to bring about consciousness change.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:17.62,0:16:20.33,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's true that the message of Ayahuasca, the universal message,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:20.33,0:16:26.28,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,is about the sacred, magical, enchanted, infinitely precious, nature of life on Earth,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:26.28,0:16:29.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and the interdependence of material and spiritual realms.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:29.16,0:16:31.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's impossible to work with Ayahuasca for long,
Dialogue: 0,0:16:31.34,0:16:35.10,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,without being deeply and profoundly affected by this message.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:35.10,0:16:38.22,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And lets not forget that Ayahuasca is not alone.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:38.22,0:16:44.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,That it's part of an ancient worldwide system of the targeted, careful, responsible
Dialogue: 0,0:16:44.14,0:16:45.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,alteration of consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:16:45.74,0:16:51.14,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It's recently been shown by scholars that the Kykeon used in the Eleusinian mysteries
Dialogue: 0,0:16:51.14,0:16:54.58,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,in ancient Greece was almost certainly a psychedelic brew
Dialogue: 0,0:16:54.58,0:17:00.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that the Soma of the Vedas may well of been a brew based upon the Amanita muscaria mushroom.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:00.06,0:17:04.77,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,We have the DMT in the ancient Egyptian tree of life,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:04.77,0:17:08.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,we have the whole global cultures of surviving shamanism.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:08.74,0:17:10.99,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And what it's all about is a state of consciousness
Dialogue: 0,0:17:10.99,0:17:13.30,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,that's designed to help us find balanced harmony.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:13.30,0:17:16.90,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,The ancient Egyptians would have called it Maât with the Universe,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:16.90,0:17:20.19,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and to remain mindful that what we're here to undertake on Earth,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:20.19,0:17:23.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while immersed in matter, is fundamentally a spiritual journey
Dialogue: 0,0:17:23.74,0:17:26.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,aimed at the growth and perfection of the soul,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:26.16,0:17:30.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,a journey that may go back to the very origins of what made us human in the first place.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:30.86,0:17:35.75,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And I stand here invoking the hard one right of freedom of speech
Dialogue: 0,0:17:35.85,0:17:40.16,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,to call for and demand another right to be recognized,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:40.16,0:17:42.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and that is the right of adult sovereignty over consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:17:42.94,0:17:46.34,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,There's a war on consciousness in our society
Dialogue: 0,0:17:46.34,0:17:49.27,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and if we, as adults, are not allowed to make sovereign decisions
Dialogue: 0,0:17:49.27,0:17:53.38,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,about what to experience with our own consciousness while doing no harm to others,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:53.38,0:17:58.52,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,including the decision to use responsibly ancient and sacred visionary plants,
Dialogue: 0,0:17:58.52,0:18:00.94,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,then we cannot claim to be free in any way.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:00.94,0:18:05.70,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,And it's useless for our society to go around the world imposing our form of democracy on others
Dialogue: 0,0:18:05.70,0:18:08.74,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,while we nourish this rot at the heart of society
Dialogue: 0,0:18:08.74,0:18:12.06,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and we do not allow individual freedom over the consciousness.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:12.06,0:18:17.86,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,It may even be that we are denying ourselves the next vital step in our own evolution
Dialogue: 0,0:18:17.86,0:18:20.63,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,by allowing the state of affairs to continue,
Dialogue: 0,0:18:20.89,0:18:24.82,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,and who knows, perhaps our immortal destiny as well.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:25.12,0:18:28.11,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you ladies and gentlemen.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:28.47,0:18:30.41,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.
Dialogue: 0,0:18:30.58,0:18:36.15,Default,,0000,0000,0000,,Thank you.